DD's teacher has a "cry board" in her classroom

[Anonymous]

Is this a public school???

[Anonymous]

Just wanted to add that I had a difficult situation when my child was hospitalized with what turned out to be a chronic condition. Some of the teachers were refusing to give extended completion time or excuse work because she didn’t have a 504 in place at the time of the hospitalization. I wasted a lot of time dealing with the counselor and then finally asked the right question to learn she had no authority to overrule the teachers. The AP did. I pointed out that under the ADA she was entitled to accommodations for her disability even though she did not have a 504 in place yet. They gave in and gave her much more time with some assignments excused altogether.

You really want a 594 and not an IEP for this, as it’s not about services but about them providing accommodations.

This is all separate from the ridiculous cry board. I feel bad for the schools at the moment as they are so short staffed that I’m sure they don’t want to fire anyone unless they are a child molestor. My teen has a teacher that is totally incompetent to teach the subject but if they fire her they’ll probably just have to cancel the class. At this point the kids all know the deal and just use the online resources to learn the material and help each other out. Highly recommend getting tapped into the teen or mom grapevine to find out which teachers are terrible at least for electives.

[Anonymous]

OP, just solidarity on the rage. And FYI school boards still have meetings throughout the summer. Bringing this issue up during public comment, especially if central admin likes to tout a slogan of care for all children or something will probably get you immediate contact with a Cheif of Staff/academics type person who can make an actual difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, just solidarity on the rage. And FYI school boards still have meetings throughout the summer. Bringing this issue up during public comment, especially if central admin likes to tout a slogan of care for all children or something will probably get you immediate contact with a Cheif of Staff/academics type person who can make an actual difference.

Here is the info. It’s Wednesday evening and you have to sign up for public comment in advance

https://www.pwcs.edu/events/2023/06/school-board-meeting1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, just solidarity on the rage. And FYI school boards still have meetings throughout the summer. Bringing this issue up during public comment, especially if central admin likes to tout a slogan of care for all children or something will probably get you immediate contact with a Cheif of Staff/academics type person who can make an actual difference.

I posted above.

Before we bring out torches and pitchforks, I really think the OP should talk to the teacher.

Nobody knows the full story, yet many posters are ready to take the teacher down in some grand public display.

Again: Talk to the teacher.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you need a counting board to keep track of how many times you make the kids in your class cry during the term, it would seem that the problem is you, and not the kids you are trying to shame.

Especially in NINTH GRADE. Kids at this age do cry, sometimes because they are struggling to manage emotion but also often because they are super hormonal and still adjusting to puberty. But they aren't crying for absolutely no reason like small children. I don't think a "cry board" is appropriate for any age, really, but I could understand having an incentive to control crying in the classroom at other ages. Like in 2nd or 3rd, where you might be looking for kids to learn to control their upset reaction a bit more. Or if these were high school seniors and your goal was to say "I'm going to treat you as an adult, and in college and the world beyond, people are not going to be swayed by tears." I still wouldn't do it in this weird shaming way, but at least in those cases it would make sense.

Doing this with high school Freshmen seems deranged. Those kids are still making the transition to adulthood, dealing with major hormone swings, and just generally a bit emotionally volatile. It makes no sense.

It’s inappropriate for any age but extremely weird and out of touch than you find it more acceptable to bully/shame a 7-8 year old for crying in class than a 14-15 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in the long run, it will be better to help your daughter deal with the failing grade than try to battle the teacher. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick, so she failed. That’s the bad thing that happened. The recovery is retaking the class, or summer school, or whatever. This is a college essay waiting to be written. The D is not an insurmountable problem.

The teacher is wrong and crappy, sure. But your daughter needs to learn which fights to fight. It doesn’t help her to try to get the teacher in trouble and it doesn’t mean she actually completed the assigned work. She’s not the teacher police, she’s a student. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick and so she failed the course. That’s OKAY. Help her work through THAT.

PS, sure, complain about the cry board thing. It’s gross. But it’s not really relevant to the failing grade except that you want to maybe leverage it to weaken the teacher and get a grade that doesn’t reflect completed coursework.

PPS I would even go so far as to say that if she is outraged about the cry board thing and wants to take a stand on that for the sake of herself and future students, wonderful. Advocacy is important. To be a good advocate on that she needs to drop the grade appeal unless she’s finished the required coursework, because having a request to change the grade clouds the water on the cry board thing. Is it about one, or the other? She’d be a stronger advocate on the cry board thing without the grade issue. Take the fail, recover it the right way.

F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Just wanted to add that I had a difficult situation when my child was hospitalized with what turned out to be a chronic condition. Some of the teachers were refusing to give extended completion time or excuse work because she didn’t have a 504 in place at the time of the hospitalization. I wasted a lot of time dealing with the counselor and then finally asked the right question to learn she had no authority to overrule the teachers. The AP did. I pointed out that under the ADA she was entitled to accommodations for her disability even though she did not have a 504 in place yet. They gave in and gave her much more time with some assignments excused altogether.

You really want a 594 and not an IEP for this, as it’s not about services but about them providing accommodations.

This is all separate from the ridiculous cry board. I feel bad for the schools at the moment as they are so short staffed that I’m sure they don’t want to fire anyone unless they are a child molestor. My teen has a teacher that is totally incompetent to teach the subject but if they fire her they’ll probably just have to cancel the class. At this point the kids all know the deal and just use the online resources to learn the material and help each other out. Highly recommend getting tapped into the teen or mom grapevine to find out which teachers are terrible at least for electives.

OP said her daughter already has an IEP for other issues so this will get added. You don’t get both an IEP and a 504.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in the long run, it will be better to help your daughter deal with the failing grade than try to battle the teacher. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick, so she failed. That’s the bad thing that happened. The recovery is retaking the class, or summer school, or whatever. This is a college essay waiting to be written. The D is not an insurmountable problem.

The teacher is wrong and crappy, sure. But your daughter needs to learn which fights to fight. It doesn’t help her to try to get the teacher in trouble and it doesn’t mean she actually completed the assigned work. She’s not the teacher police, she’s a student. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick and so she failed the course. That’s OKAY. Help her work through THAT.

PS, sure, complain about the cry board thing. It’s gross. But it’s not really relevant to the failing grade except that you want to maybe leverage it to weaken the teacher and get a grade that doesn’t reflect completed coursework.

PPS I would even go so far as to say that if she is outraged about the cry board thing and wants to take a stand on that for the sake of herself and future students, wonderful. Advocacy is important. To be a good advocate on that she needs to drop the grade appeal unless she’s finished the required coursework, because having a request to change the grade clouds the water on the cry board thing. Is it about one, or the other? She’d be a stronger advocate on the cry board thing without the grade issue. Take the fail, recover it the right way.

F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.

Last time I’m going to try this.

Can we get more info first? Before the pitchforks come out, talk to the teacher.

I’m also a teacher. Yes, I absolutely believe that this could be true. I just haven’t read anything on this thread yet that justifies a huge take-down.

I know a teacher who had her reputation destroyed by a parent who was working on false information. Get the facts first. Always.

How will OP feel if she takes this to the board before talking to the teacher, only to have new info revealed?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If you need a counting board to keep track of how many times you make the kids in your class cry during the term, it would seem that the problem is you, and not the kids you are trying to shame.

Especially in NINTH GRADE. Kids at this age do cry, sometimes because they are struggling to manage emotion but also often because they are super hormonal and still adjusting to puberty. But they aren't crying for absolutely no reason like small children. I don't think a "cry board" is appropriate for any age, really, but I could understand having an incentive to control crying in the classroom at other ages. Like in 2nd or 3rd, where you might be looking for kids to learn to control their upset reaction a bit more. Or if these were high school seniors and your goal was to say "I'm going to treat you as an adult, and in college and the world beyond, people are not going to be swayed by tears." I still wouldn't do it in this weird shaming way, but at least in those cases it would make sense.

Doing this with high school Freshmen seems deranged. Those kids are still making the transition to adulthood, dealing with major hormone swings, and just generally a bit emotionally volatile. It makes no sense.

It’s inappropriate for any age but extremely weird and out of touch than you find it more acceptable to bully/shame a 7-8 year old for crying in class than a 14-15 year old.

Not what I said -- specifically against any bullying/shaming over crying at any age. I said I could understand wanting to address crying in 7/8 year olds if it was happening a lot and seemed to be a developmental issues (many kids responding to things the way you might think a PK/K kid would). The cry board is stupid no matter the age. But I think it's especially unrealistic to think you can "control" crying in 9th graders because it's a weird transitional age and crying is actually not that uncommon. The kids are hormonal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in the long run, it will be better to help your daughter deal with the failing grade than try to battle the teacher. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick, so she failed. That’s the bad thing that happened. The recovery is retaking the class, or summer school, or whatever. This is a college essay waiting to be written. The D is not an insurmountable problem.

The teacher is wrong and crappy, sure. But your daughter needs to learn which fights to fight. It doesn’t help her to try to get the teacher in trouble and it doesn’t mean she actually completed the assigned work. She’s not the teacher police, she’s a student. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick and so she failed the course. That’s OKAY. Help her work through THAT.

PS, sure, complain about the cry board thing. It’s gross. But it’s not really relevant to the failing grade except that you want to maybe leverage it to weaken the teacher and get a grade that doesn’t reflect completed coursework.

PPS I would even go so far as to say that if she is outraged about the cry board thing and wants to take a stand on that for the sake of herself and future students, wonderful. Advocacy is important. To be a good advocate on that she needs to drop the grade appeal unless she’s finished the required coursework, because having a request to change the grade clouds the water on the cry board thing. Is it about one, or the other? She’d be a stronger advocate on the cry board thing without the grade issue. Take the fail, recover it the right way.

F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.

Last time I’m going to try this.

Can we get more info first? Before the pitchforks come out, talk to the teacher.

I’m also a teacher. Yes, I absolutely believe that this could be true. I just haven’t read anything on this thread yet that justifies a huge take-down.

I know a teacher who had her reputation destroyed by a parent who was working on false information. Get the facts first. Always.

How will OP feel if she takes this to the board before talking to the teacher, only to have new info revealed?

The cry-board is a fact recorded by the student. The mom should send the picture and her DC’s description of the situation to the teacher and ask the teacher if she could please share what happened. Teachers often continue to incriminate themselves in this kind of situation, and that provides good additional evidence.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in the long run, it will be better to help your daughter deal with the failing grade than try to battle the teacher. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick, so she failed. That’s the bad thing that happened. The recovery is retaking the class, or summer school, or whatever. This is a college essay waiting to be written. The D is not an insurmountable problem.

The teacher is wrong and crappy, sure. But your daughter needs to learn which fights to fight. It doesn’t help her to try to get the teacher in trouble and it doesn’t mean she actually completed the assigned work. She’s not the teacher police, she’s a student. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick and so she failed the course. That’s OKAY. Help her work through THAT.

PS, sure, complain about the cry board thing. It’s gross. But it’s not really relevant to the failing grade except that you want to maybe leverage it to weaken the teacher and get a grade that doesn’t reflect completed coursework.

PPS I would even go so far as to say that if she is outraged about the cry board thing and wants to take a stand on that for the sake of herself and future students, wonderful. Advocacy is important. To be a good advocate on that she needs to drop the grade appeal unless she’s finished the required coursework, because having a request to change the grade clouds the water on the cry board thing. Is it about one, or the other? She’d be a stronger advocate on the cry board thing without the grade issue. Take the fail, recover it the right way.

F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.

Last time I’m going to try this.

Can we get more info first? Before the pitchforks come out, talk to the teacher.

I’m also a teacher. Yes, I absolutely believe that this could be true. I just haven’t read anything on this thread yet that justifies a huge take-down.

I know a teacher who had her reputation destroyed by a parent who was working on false information. Get the facts first. Always.

How will OP feel if she takes this to the board before talking to the teacher, only to have new info revealed?

The cry-board is a fact recorded by the student. The mom should send the picture and her DC’s description of the situation to the teacher and ask the teacher if she could please share what happened. Teachers often continue to incriminate themselves in this kind of situation, and that provides good additional evidence.

Yes, send it to the TEACHER and ask the teacher to explain. There are plenty of posters who want to skip that step and go immediately to public shaming. Having known an innocent teacher who had this happen, I am now very suspicious of all parents who skip the important step of talking directly to the teacher.

The fact you assume (hope?) that the teacher will further incriminate themselves is also suspicious.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like intentional infliction of emotional distress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in the long run, it will be better to help your daughter deal with the failing grade than try to battle the teacher. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick, so she failed. That’s the bad thing that happened. The recovery is retaking the class, or summer school, or whatever. This is a college essay waiting to be written. The D is not an insurmountable problem.

The teacher is wrong and crappy, sure. But your daughter needs to learn which fights to fight. It doesn’t help her to try to get the teacher in trouble and it doesn’t mean she actually completed the assigned work. She’s not the teacher police, she’s a student. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick and so she failed the course. That’s OKAY. Help her work through THAT.

PS, sure, complain about the cry board thing. It’s gross. But it’s not really relevant to the failing grade except that you want to maybe leverage it to weaken the teacher and get a grade that doesn’t reflect completed coursework.

PPS I would even go so far as to say that if she is outraged about the cry board thing and wants to take a stand on that for the sake of herself and future students, wonderful. Advocacy is important. To be a good advocate on that she needs to drop the grade appeal unless she’s finished the required coursework, because having a request to change the grade clouds the water on the cry board thing. Is it about one, or the other? She’d be a stronger advocate on the cry board thing without the grade issue. Take the fail, recover it the right way.

F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.

Last time I’m going to try this.

Can we get more info first? Before the pitchforks come out, talk to the teacher.

I’m also a teacher. Yes, I absolutely believe that this could be true. I just haven’t read anything on this thread yet that justifies a huge take-down.

I know a teacher who had her reputation destroyed by a parent who was working on false information. Get the facts first. Always.

How will OP feel if she takes this to the board before talking to the teacher, only to have new info revealed?

Where did I say she shouldn't talk to the teacher??

Read the post I am actually responding to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think in the long run, it will be better to help your daughter deal with the failing grade than try to battle the teacher. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick, so she failed. That’s the bad thing that happened. The recovery is retaking the class, or summer school, or whatever. This is a college essay waiting to be written. The D is not an insurmountable problem.

The teacher is wrong and crappy, sure. But your daughter needs to learn which fights to fight. It doesn’t help her to try to get the teacher in trouble and it doesn’t mean she actually completed the assigned work. She’s not the teacher police, she’s a student. She couldn’t do the work because she was sick and so she failed the course. That’s OKAY. Help her work through THAT.

PS, sure, complain about the cry board thing. It’s gross. But it’s not really relevant to the failing grade except that you want to maybe leverage it to weaken the teacher and get a grade that doesn’t reflect completed coursework.

PPS I would even go so far as to say that if she is outraged about the cry board thing and wants to take a stand on that for the sake of herself and future students, wonderful. Advocacy is important. To be a good advocate on that she needs to drop the grade appeal unless she’s finished the required coursework, because having a request to change the grade clouds the water on the cry board thing. Is it about one, or the other? She’d be a stronger advocate on the cry board thing without the grade issue. Take the fail, recover it the right way.

F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.

Last time I’m going to try this.

Can we get more info first? Before the pitchforks come out, talk to the teacher.

I’m also a teacher. Yes, I absolutely believe that this could be true. I just haven’t read anything on this thread yet that justifies a huge take-down.

I know a teacher who had her reputation destroyed by a parent who was working on false information. Get the facts first. Always.

How will OP feel if she takes this to the board before talking to the teacher, only to have new info revealed?

Where did I say she shouldn't talk to the teacher??

Read the post I am actually responding to.

I was responding to this:
“F*** this. Oh hellllllllll no. This person should not see the inside of a classroom ever again. I say that as a teacher.

I am livid for you OP.”

Or should go higher in this sub thread, where there is a reference to “weaken[ing] the teacher”?

This thread is filled with calls to take the teacher down.

I’ve seen this happen to an innocent teacher. Someone on this thread has to remind people how altercations SHOULD be handled.